How far is the campaign from breaking even?
The campaign loses money and the meeting argues about whose fault that is. The useful question runs backwards: what conversion rate makes the profit zero? Goal Seek answers it exactly.
Marketing Starter Goal Seek free
After you install, this is the model to open.
The Conversion Rate That Breaks Even
- In your spreadsheet, click the Sortia icon in the strip of icons down the right-hand edge. No strip? Click the arrow at the bottom-right to open it. You can also use Extensions, then Sortia, then Open Sortia.
- Click Start from a template and put that name in the search box.
- Pick the card with that name and click Load this template. It arrives on a new tab with real numbers already in it.
The answer
Goal Seek lands on:
- Break-even conversion
- 2.63%
- Gap to close
- 0.63 points
- Profit today
- -$4,800 /month
Now the landing page team owns 0.63 points of conversion, or the media buyer owns a cheaper click: rerun at a $2.10 CPC to see exactly how much pressure that takes off. The same backwards question prices break-even CPC, order value and spend levels.
The model
$20K of monthly spend at $2.50 a click is 8,000 clicks; at 2% conversion that is 160 orders worth $95 each, for a campaign profit of minus $4,800. Goal Seek drives profit to zero by adjusting the rate.
| Monthly spend | $20,000 at $2.50 CPC |
| Conversion rate | 2.0% today |
| Profit per order | $95 |
| Break-even rate | goal seek |
Once it is in your sheet
- The model arrives with real numbers in it and runs as it stands, so you can press the button first and understand it second.
- Change the numbers to yours. The sheet marks which cells are inputs and which hold formulas, and most labels carry a note explaining the row.
- Press the run button at the bottom of the panel. It is labeled for the tool you are in, and the result lands on its own tab, with a written reading of it beside the figures.
Never used Google Sheets? Start here goes the whole way, in seven steps, and assumes nothing.
Next question
- The variant is up 25.9%. What lift can you actually promise?Did the B Version Win?
- How long does this A/B test have to run?How Many Visitors Does This Test Need?
- What does a margin of error of four points cost?How Many People Do We Have to Ask?
- A 7% margin in January. How often is the year a loss?Will the Retainer Book Cover the Year?
- Plan for the average month or the bad one?How to Split Spend When Conversion Is a Guess
- When does a new hire start paying for themselves?Is the Next Hire Worth It?
Every model like this one, and the method behind them: What-if analysis in Google Sheets.